Reds emerge victorious in thriller

Liverpool clinch all three points against Swansea.

LONDON: Liverpool tightened their grip on the fourth place in the Premier League after Daniel Sturridge and Jordan Henderson each scored twice in a jittery 4-3 win over Swansea City on Sunday.

Swansea hit back to level from 2-0 and 3-2 down at Anfield, before Henderson finally killed off their resistance in the 74th minute to take Liverpool back to within four points of leaders Chelsea.

It was a 10th consecutive home league win for Liverpool and gave Brendan Rodgers’s side a provisional six-point lead over fifth-place Tottenham Hotspur, who visit Norwich City later on Sunday.

Liverpool needed less than three minutes to take the lead, with Sturridge collecting Raheem Sterling’s pass and rounding Swansea goalkeeper Michel Vorm to score, after Angel Rangel had lost possession in midfield.

Sturridge has now scored in eight consecutive Premier League games and he set up his side’s second goal in the 20th minute with a lay-off that was curled home by Henderson.

However, two goals in four minutes brought Swansea level, with former Liverpool midfielder Jonjo Shelvey smashing home via the crossbar before Wilfried Bony headed home with a deflection off Martin Skrtel.

Sturridge restored Liverpool’s lead in the 36th minute, converting a cross from Luis Suarez with his head, but Bony equalised from the penalty spot early in the second half after he had been pulled back by Skrtel.

It had been a ramshackle performance by Liverpool, but they finally secured victory with 16 minutes remaining when Henderson bundled the ball home after Suarez’s shot was deflected into his path.

Pellegrini defends City’s slender win

Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini believes his side have the mental strength to win matches even when they are not at their stylish best during the end-of-season run-in.

City have plundered 69 goals in 26 league matches this season, but after failing to find the net in successive games, they scrapped to a 1-0 victory at home to Stoke City on Saturday.

It was enough to keep them three points behind leaders Chelsea with a game in hand and a superior goal difference.

“The satisfaction is the same because we have three points more on the table and the second round is not the same as the first round,” he said.

“Teams come here to try to draw with the whole team defending, so we can’t win by three or four every match. We must try to find more space in the defence, but it’s important to know how to win both ways, to have a clean sheet and have the patience to score at least one,” he continued.

“The other team was behind the ball in the other box, but we had the patience for the 90 minutes and finally we scored and we had the concentration, especially at set-pieces and second balls, to keep our clean sheet.”

Published in The Express Tribune, February 24^th, 2014.

Like Sports on Facebook, follow @ETribuneSports on Twitter to stay informed and join in the conversation.a